Meguiar's wheel cleaner not working for me.

I followed the instructions, but was left with a kind of streaking of black brake dust in the wheel holes after the rinse down. The black comes off with a terry towel, but should I have to do that?

The wheels are pristine - just been painted a week ago to MB specs and baked.

And also - I know that Meguiar's is meant to be non-intrusive on paint, but the instructions also ask me to wear googles. So how safe is it for my wheels?

I have to put on record that all my other detailing products are Meguiar's, and I haven't found better. Just need to figure what I'm doing wrong here.

Ken Silver
http://www.kensilver.com

mailto:ken@ksilver.com
71 Euro 350SL 121,000 miles
Green, black int. Body #001379
Photos: http://www.ksilver.com/350sl.htm
91 Mazda Miata (MX5) 72,000k
Ex-230E, ex-280E.

[searaypaul]

I STARTED USING MEGUIARS PRODUCTS AFTER READING THE POSTS ON THIS WEB SITE. ALL OF THE PRODUCTS HAVE WORKED VERY WELL INCLUDING THE WHEEL CLEANER. INITALLY I ALSO GOT STREAKING WHEN CLEANING MY WHEELS BUT AN EXTRA BLAST OF WATER REMOVED THE STREAKING. AS I CONTINUE TO USE THE WHEEL CLEANER IT DOES BETTER EACH TIME. I THINK THIS IS BECAUSE IT REMOVES A LITTLE MORE OF THE CAKED ON WHEEL DUST EACH TIME FROM THE HARD TO REACH SPOTS. THANKS FOR THIS GREAT WEB SITE.

PAUL
E300TD 1999 25000 MILES IN FOUR MONTHS

[Lee Scheeler]

Ken,
From what you describe I would guess you need to get at the lug crevices a bit better on the washing end and do at least one more "once over" on the rinsing part. On the older and more intricate wheels it can be a bit of a headache to get things perfect on the first pass, there are just too many places for grunge/water/etc to hide. After you have hand washed all you can realistically reach, just keep rinsing until you no longer get any black dust/streaking. A coat of wax on the wheels will also do worlds to help with the weekly maintenance issues.

Don't sweat the goggles, I have yet to meet anyone who actually uses them in real life. If Meguiar's wants you wearing goggles for their wheel cleaner then I'd imagine they'd want you in a radiation suit when using many "lesser" wheel cleaners. ("Bleach-White", Simple Green, Pro409, etc) In addition to the Meguiar's wheel cleaner you might also want to try P21S. Both of those products are pretty much the best you can get. Give the above a shot and let me know if it does the trick for you.

Hope this helps...Lee

Thanks Lee and Paul,

My wheels are the new 15-hole pancakes, so they are relatively easy to clean.

I remember 10-12 years back when I had a newish 230E with the older style wheels, that a proprietory MB wheel cleaner took all the brake dust off without any problems.

I don't know whether MB were using Meguiar's then, but this stuff was good.

My SL is in the shop at the moment, but I'll try the suggestions out when it gets back to me later this week.

Ken Silver
http://www.kensilver.com
mailto:ken@ksilver.com
71 Euro 350SL 121,000 miles
Green, black int. Body #001379
Photos: http://www.ksilver.com/350sl.htm
91 Mazda Miata (MX5) 72,000k
Ex-230E, ex-280E.